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Sunday, 6 September 2009

When I was a teenager in the North of England, one of the most mysterious things about my world was why people wanted to go out "on the pull".

It's one of those things I don't care at all if other people do - good luck to them, have fun - as long as it's not compulsory. My own reaction has always been "eww" - undignified, pointless, depressing and dull.

While my personal reaction is unchanged, one of the things have found as I learn to dance tango is that I think I can now imagine what kick people get out of doing the ‘Newcastle* Tango’ all night (The music's crap, and you get glandular fever, or worse, plus a headache in the morning from the beer, as though the music wouldn't have been enough. The beer is to keep you warm, instead of more clothes. Along with deep-fried Mars bars). I don't know exactly why they get the kick out of doing that specifically, but maybe I see what the kick is. I just have different demands for my kicks. And my interactions with people. As I've danced for longer, so that fewer of my partners are strangers, the revelation has faded, but I try to remember.

Perhaps I would have had the same revelation had I chosen any other social dance. But I doubt it.

*I didn't live in Newcastle. They're just more famous for it there, that they are where I was. For actual tango in Newcastle you could try here or here or here, and there's a video of social dancing here, with the lovely Oscar Acebras and Carlos Quilici playing a milonga.

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MsHedgehog

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"I gave [him] the message. He told me (in Spanish): 'You have no idea how nice it was to dance with her, a real pleasure' (here he was rubbing his heart). 'She enjoys dancing so much and you can feel it when you dance with her, it is a wonderful feeling.'"